Fanfic recs for tough times
March 17, 2020 2:58 AM Subscribe
Life is hard: can we have another fanfic recs thread please
Reading fanfiction is how I cope with life and get a bit of mental space and, well, I could really use that right now.
For the purposes of this question I do not care what fandom a fic is in or how long or short it is. Angsty and dark stuff is fine, it is okay if bad things happen. Lighter stuff is fine too. Really my only criterion is that it should be absorbing and distracting enough to give me a bit of breathing space from life.
Reading fanfiction is how I cope with life and get a bit of mental space and, well, I could really use that right now.
For the purposes of this question I do not care what fandom a fic is in or how long or short it is. Angsty and dark stuff is fine, it is okay if bad things happen. Lighter stuff is fine too. Really my only criterion is that it should be absorbing and distracting enough to give me a bit of breathing space from life.
snipers solve 99% of all problems by silentwalrus. Absolute madness, crossover Harry Potter and Fullmetal Alchemist (about which I knew absolutely nothing going in.) WIP, 58 chapters and updated constantly, check out the author’s finished works if you are not already familiar.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 4:22 AM on March 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Lawn Beaver at 4:22 AM on March 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
On A03, look up the author Mottlemoth for mainly Mystrade (lotsa fluff), and Emungere for mostly Hannigram (obvs darker, Stunning prose).
Searching by the tags for His Dark Materials - daemons - AUs and as above, Temeraire (or general dragon) AUs, brings some bonkersly fun stuff.
posted by runincircles at 4:28 AM on March 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
Searching by the tags for His Dark Materials - daemons - AUs and as above, Temeraire (or general dragon) AUs, brings some bonkersly fun stuff.
posted by runincircles at 4:28 AM on March 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm sunk deep in the pit of Untamed / Modao Zushi fandom right now, so that's where most of my recs are from at the moment, but you're welcome to them. (And hey, there's a primer in there, so if you think a 50-episode drama about Ancient Gay Fantasy China might soothe your heart right now, peek at the primer link and get an idea of whether you might be into it.)
posted by Stacey at 4:53 AM on March 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Stacey at 4:53 AM on March 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
Myrmidryad writes awesome Enjolras/Grantaire Les Miserables fics. The House That Dripped Blood and Where I Fall is Where I Land are my two favourites.
I stumbled on her through another fandom and my only Les Mis knowledge is the film (which I didn't especially enjoy) but her writing stands alone, beautifully tender emotions and great, gripping stories.
posted by *becca* at 5:16 AM on March 17, 2020
I stumbled on her through another fandom and my only Les Mis knowledge is the film (which I didn't especially enjoy) but her writing stands alone, beautifully tender emotions and great, gripping stories.
posted by *becca* at 5:16 AM on March 17, 2020
Also!
Everything The Last Good Goldfish writes is amazing (all Veronica Mars Logan/Veronica) but especially The Phenomenal Pixie.
MeFi's own Nonasuch's work is great. The Dogfather is good place to start, a Harry Potter AU where Harry was adopted by a nice couple instead of abused by the Dursleys.
Better Noire writes really great Stucky, the sex is a bit more aggressive than would be my taste but there is much tender pining and gentleness mixed in. Lucky Seven is my favourite of hers.
posted by *becca* at 5:47 AM on March 17, 2020 [3 favorites]
Everything The Last Good Goldfish writes is amazing (all Veronica Mars Logan/Veronica) but especially The Phenomenal Pixie.
MeFi's own Nonasuch's work is great. The Dogfather is good place to start, a Harry Potter AU where Harry was adopted by a nice couple instead of abused by the Dursleys.
Better Noire writes really great Stucky, the sex is a bit more aggressive than would be my taste but there is much tender pining and gentleness mixed in. Lucky Seven is my favourite of hers.
posted by *becca* at 5:47 AM on March 17, 2020 [3 favorites]
Slow Prison Life - a translated novel which gently subverts the common dating-sim plot "my fiance has publicly rejected me, the villainess, in order to shack up with the heroine!". (In this case the villainess wants incarceration.)
posted by sebastienbailard at 6:05 AM on March 17, 2020
posted by sebastienbailard at 6:05 AM on March 17, 2020
I offer up my 3,100 bookmarks on AO3. Judge me as you like for the staggering amount of Wincest in the most recent pages, I've been old-school mainlining Supernatural to catch up for the finale. There are at least 100+ fandoms covered in those bookmarks though.
If anyone wants specific fic recommendations, I can get something (StarWars Folgers crossover, yes. Bakery Shop Teen Wolf AUs, yes. Hockey mail order brides, certainly. Want something incredibly dark and gothic involving romantic dismemberment? Sure! Fluff about single dads and the families they find in friends? I have many) to keep you happy.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:15 AM on March 17, 2020 [6 favorites]
If anyone wants specific fic recommendations, I can get something (StarWars Folgers crossover, yes. Bakery Shop Teen Wolf AUs, yes. Hockey mail order brides, certainly. Want something incredibly dark and gothic involving romantic dismemberment? Sure! Fluff about single dads and the families they find in friends? I have many) to keep you happy.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:15 AM on March 17, 2020 [6 favorites]
Infinite Coffee And Protection Detail series by owlet. Bucky, Captain America, funny, angsty, sheer delight. I'm glad to have been reminded of it, I'm gonna read it AGAIN now.
posted by tomboko at 8:06 AM on March 17, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by tomboko at 8:06 AM on March 17, 2020 [6 favorites]
If you're up for Batman and family, Cor E Cerebrum is a well-written series that allows the characters to grow and change and introduces an original character that has become a favourite of other writers.
posted by sardonyx at 8:29 AM on March 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by sardonyx at 8:29 AM on March 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
Nonasuch, I love the Dogfather!
Other recs:
cascades. by orange_crushed.
DC works by Unpretty, so good. Elsewhere on MeFi I have recommended her Unbeatable Squirrel Girl fics, which are Kraven/Doreen Green, hilarious and filthy. Her DC stuff is great too, AUs for Batman and Superman mostly.
Except it Abide in the Vine by spitandvinegar, requires AO3 registration. spitandvinegar's Stucky works are what got me to sign up for AO3 in the first place, and this one might be my favorite, it's so weird and good.
4 Minute Window, utterly convincing Stucky by Speranza who is apparently a big deal in more than one fandom.
Um, slightly embarrassing to admit, but I have definitely read all the Transformers works by astolat. If you are at all interested in robots doin' it (I wasn't! I swear! I tripped and fell) you will not regret the time spent. astolat also got me into Drarry works, so there's that.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 10:50 AM on March 17, 2020 [6 favorites]
Other recs:
cascades. by orange_crushed.
DC works by Unpretty, so good. Elsewhere on MeFi I have recommended her Unbeatable Squirrel Girl fics, which are Kraven/Doreen Green, hilarious and filthy. Her DC stuff is great too, AUs for Batman and Superman mostly.
Except it Abide in the Vine by spitandvinegar, requires AO3 registration. spitandvinegar's Stucky works are what got me to sign up for AO3 in the first place, and this one might be my favorite, it's so weird and good.
4 Minute Window, utterly convincing Stucky by Speranza who is apparently a big deal in more than one fandom.
Um, slightly embarrassing to admit, but I have definitely read all the Transformers works by astolat. If you are at all interested in robots doin' it (I wasn't! I swear! I tripped and fell) you will not regret the time spent. astolat also got me into Drarry works, so there's that.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 10:50 AM on March 17, 2020 [6 favorites]
If you like a longread, here are some of my faves:
(Title, author, fandom, (my comments))
- Something Like This, emmagrant01, Check Please! (hockeyboys in love, pining, sexy stuff, and eventually (mild spoilers) what it would be like to be an out gay man in the NHL)
- Talking Stick/Circle, Little Otter (Macedon) & Peg, Star Trek: Voyager (what if Chakotay, the Indigenous character in Voyager, was a fully realized character written by an Indigenous author instead of a mishmash of stereotypes? This is also pretty much the only time I've ever felt moved to read 350K words of a het pairing, so.)
- Known Associates, thingswithwings, MCU (I haven't seen most? any? of the Marvel movies but I adored this fic where Steve Rogers lives a lovingly detailed and extensively researched queer life in 1940s Brooklyn, and how that plays out in his life in the present)
Also if you don't subscribe to The Rec Centre, I can't recommend it highly enough!
posted by ITheCosmos at 2:23 PM on March 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
(Title, author, fandom, (my comments))
- Something Like This, emmagrant01, Check Please! (hockeyboys in love, pining, sexy stuff, and eventually (mild spoilers) what it would be like to be an out gay man in the NHL)
- Talking Stick/Circle, Little Otter (Macedon) & Peg, Star Trek: Voyager (what if Chakotay, the Indigenous character in Voyager, was a fully realized character written by an Indigenous author instead of a mishmash of stereotypes? This is also pretty much the only time I've ever felt moved to read 350K words of a het pairing, so.)
- Known Associates, thingswithwings, MCU (I haven't seen most? any? of the Marvel movies but I adored this fic where Steve Rogers lives a lovingly detailed and extensively researched queer life in 1940s Brooklyn, and how that plays out in his life in the present)
Also if you don't subscribe to The Rec Centre, I can't recommend it highly enough!
posted by ITheCosmos at 2:23 PM on March 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
Was also gonna rec Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail. Truly wonderful.
posted by Mavri at 3:05 PM on March 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Mavri at 3:05 PM on March 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm kind of amazed that del.icio.us is still up, wow! Here are all my old recs going up to 2014. Fandoms include Inception, SGA, SG-1, Harry Potter, Generation Kill, and old-school SPN.
Like Stacey, I've recently been swallowed up by The Untamed/MDZS fandom, it's terrific. For anyone who's curious you can watch it on Netflix or Youtube. My AO3 bookmarks, which also have a bunch of fic in the Free!, Yuri on Ice, and anime-adjacent fandoms.
My favourite fic of all time is helenish's Patience, A Steady Hand. It's a novel-length Inception historical AU, but it's so thoroughly imagined that it can basically be read as a standalone novel with no previous fandom knowledge. I've read it three times.
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 7:31 PM on March 17, 2020 [3 favorites]
Like Stacey, I've recently been swallowed up by The Untamed/MDZS fandom, it's terrific. For anyone who's curious you can watch it on Netflix or Youtube. My AO3 bookmarks, which also have a bunch of fic in the Free!, Yuri on Ice, and anime-adjacent fandoms.
My favourite fic of all time is helenish's Patience, A Steady Hand. It's a novel-length Inception historical AU, but it's so thoroughly imagined that it can basically be read as a standalone novel with no previous fandom knowledge. I've read it three times.
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 7:31 PM on March 17, 2020 [3 favorites]
To second Lawn Beaver, all of astolat's works are fantastic (she's a published author in real life, for a series that has been mentioned on this page, among others). I am not at all a Transformers fan, but her fics made me care about weird robots. It's magical, honestly. And so are most of her other fics. My absolute favorite is a weird Pitch-Black-meets-post-apocalyptic-Wild-West-AU for The Fast and the Furious: Finding Water. Yes, the cars are horses~
posted by ashirys at 8:17 PM on March 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ashirys at 8:17 PM on March 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
Carnation Books has flash sale on, just today, for their queer, fanfiction-adjacent ebooks. (A lot of the authors originated in the Sherlock fanfic community, and some of the books were originally Johnlock fics with the serial numbers filed off) Lots are free and others are 99 cents.
posted by slightlybewildered at 8:51 PM on March 17, 2020
posted by slightlybewildered at 8:51 PM on March 17, 2020
Just here to second slightlybewildered recommendation of Carnation Books, especially A Land So Wild, which is a beautiful story of 19th century Arctic exploraion (not much related to the Franklin expedition).
posted by Fuchsoid at 10:01 PM on March 17, 2020
posted by Fuchsoid at 10:01 PM on March 17, 2020
The Price We Pay for Wings a post-series Harry Potter fic. Love.
posted by aclevername at 6:47 PM on March 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by aclevername at 6:47 PM on March 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
I kinda hate how people always trot out the same old BNFs and popular stories in these sorts of questions, so my recommendations are little less on the overly beaten path. I have tons more, too, I could share that I don't always bookmark on AO3, especially from Yuletide, and my reading for that is a lot more diverse. (I've been stuck in Stucky hell for a while, so these tend to be heavy on that, and m/m in general.)
First, I highly, highly recommend dreamwidth user musesfool's recs page, Unfit for Society. She does monthly recs in lots of different fandoms, and organizes them by fandom. I've relied on them for years because I often don't do great with unvetted fic, and there's just tons of recs there.
And a few recs of my own:
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew (the 2007 movie Sunshine, Mature), a great reverse the apocalypse fic that feels right for our times.
Gardens of Asgard (Steve/Bucky, Explicit), which is a hilarious sex pollen type story with Steve and Bucky on Asgard.
it'll take a better war (Pepper/Tony, Mature), which is a delightful fix-it for Civil War. (And from the same author, They're gonna send us to prison for jerks, which is Steve/Bucky, T rated, and really funny.)
The Show Must Go On (G), which is a delightful look at Steve Rogers learning to be on stage and putting together the ridiculous Captain America USO show.
Strange As Angels (The Good Place, T), which was written in the early years of the show but is a lovely look at Tahani and Eleanor trying to figure things out.
Solid Copy (The Losers, Explicit) is a hilarious wild ride with suddenly-telepathic Jensen and Cougar.
You want some bourbon/I want some oranges (Band of Brothers, Mature) is a fantastic Winters/Nixon wartime story with so much great detail.
Who Reaps a Human Harvest in Alien Fields (Explicit) is an amazeballs horror take on The Martian that is one of the few fics I will happily re-read.
And the White, White Drift (Pacific Rim, not rated) is a Stacker/Herc story that's got lovely imagery of what a drift connection is like in that universe.
And the history books forgot about us (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, T) is a remarkable, elegaic look at Butch and Sundance after the events of the movie, where they didn't die.
Fluff (Steve/Bucky, E), probably one of my favorite stories ever, where a gift Thor brings for Jane causes all kinds of delightful havoc in the Avengers Tower.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 2:19 PM on March 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
First, I highly, highly recommend dreamwidth user musesfool's recs page, Unfit for Society. She does monthly recs in lots of different fandoms, and organizes them by fandom. I've relied on them for years because I often don't do great with unvetted fic, and there's just tons of recs there.
And a few recs of my own:
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew (the 2007 movie Sunshine, Mature), a great reverse the apocalypse fic that feels right for our times.
Gardens of Asgard (Steve/Bucky, Explicit), which is a hilarious sex pollen type story with Steve and Bucky on Asgard.
it'll take a better war (Pepper/Tony, Mature), which is a delightful fix-it for Civil War. (And from the same author, They're gonna send us to prison for jerks, which is Steve/Bucky, T rated, and really funny.)
The Show Must Go On (G), which is a delightful look at Steve Rogers learning to be on stage and putting together the ridiculous Captain America USO show.
Strange As Angels (The Good Place, T), which was written in the early years of the show but is a lovely look at Tahani and Eleanor trying to figure things out.
Solid Copy (The Losers, Explicit) is a hilarious wild ride with suddenly-telepathic Jensen and Cougar.
You want some bourbon/I want some oranges (Band of Brothers, Mature) is a fantastic Winters/Nixon wartime story with so much great detail.
Who Reaps a Human Harvest in Alien Fields (Explicit) is an amazeballs horror take on The Martian that is one of the few fics I will happily re-read.
And the White, White Drift (Pacific Rim, not rated) is a Stacker/Herc story that's got lovely imagery of what a drift connection is like in that universe.
And the history books forgot about us (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, T) is a remarkable, elegaic look at Butch and Sundance after the events of the movie, where they didn't die.
Fluff (Steve/Bucky, E), probably one of my favorite stories ever, where a gift Thor brings for Jane causes all kinds of delightful havoc in the Avengers Tower.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 2:19 PM on March 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
Oh golly, yes, Unfit for Society is great.
I also recommend PolyAmorous Recs (which are not for poly stories necessarily, just poly as in polyfannish): they rec in hundreds of fandoms and dozens of types of story. No matter your preferences you will probably find stories you enjoy there.
There are some ongoing Dreamwidth communities that post regular recs: Fancake is a good one, also Fictional_Fans.
posted by suelac at 3:15 PM on March 20, 2020
I also recommend PolyAmorous Recs (which are not for poly stories necessarily, just poly as in polyfannish): they rec in hundreds of fandoms and dozens of types of story. No matter your preferences you will probably find stories you enjoy there.
There are some ongoing Dreamwidth communities that post regular recs: Fancake is a good one, also Fictional_Fans.
posted by suelac at 3:15 PM on March 20, 2020
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posted by poffin boffin at 4:07 AM on March 17, 2020 [5 favorites]